ttack, one regiment made a shameful retreat. The
rest were rallied by Warner and Francis,[25] behind trees, in copses, or
wherever a vantage-ground could be had. As the combat took place in the
woods, the British were forced to adopt the same tactics. Musket and
rifle were soon doing deadly work in their ranks, every foot of ground
was obstinately disputed, and when they thought the battle already won
they found the Americans had only just begun to fight.

For three hours, eight hundred men maintained a gallant and stubborn
fight against the picked soldiers of Burgoyne's army, each side being
repeatedly driven from its ground without gaining decided advantage over
the other. Nor would Frazer have gained the day, as he at length did,
but for the timely arrival of the Germans. Indeed, at the moment when
the British were really beaten and ready to give way, the sound of many
voices, singing aloud, rose above the din of battle, and near at hand.
At first neither of the combatants knew what such strange sounds could
mean. It was Riedesel's Germans advancing to the attack, chanting battle
hymns to the fierce refrain of the musketry and the loud shouts of the
combatants. Fifty fresh men would have turned the scale to either side.
This reenforcement, therefore, decided the day. Being now greatly
outnumbered, the Americans scattered in the woods around them.

Although a defeat, this spirited little battle was every way honorable
to the Americans, who fought on until all hope of relief had vanished. A
single company would have turned defeat into victory, when to the
British, defeat in the woods, thirty miles from help, meant destruction.
Even as it was, they did not know what to do with the victory they had
just won, with the loss of two hundred men, killed and wounded,
seventeen of whom were officers. They had neither shelter nor medicines
for the wounded, nor provisions for themselves. The battle had exhausted
their ammunition, and every moment was expected to bring another swarm
of foes about their ears.

The Americans had three hundred men killed and wounded, and many
taken. The brave Colonel Francis, who had so admirably conducted the
retreat from Ticonderoga, was killed while rallying his men. Seldom has
a battle shown more determined obstinacy in the combatants, seldom has
one been more bloody for the numbers engaged.

[Illustration: ST. CLAIR'S RETREAT--BURGOYNE'S ADVANCE ON FORT EDWARD.]

While Frazer was thus drivin